A Life on Darillium
by thedoctorslittlegirl
Summary: The Doctor and River Song spend twenty four years living on Darillium.
1. Chapter 1

_Day 1_

He's counting for them, but she knows he won't tell her what day it is unless she asks. Because twenty four years, damn that's a long time, and she sure as hell doesn't want to waste it counting down. The first night at the restaurant they sit and enjoy each other's presence, then with the Doctor's charming smile and a flash of his old psychic paper the pair got a room at the hotel and enjoyed each other in a completely different way.

Towards the end, she noticed something. As she closed her eyes, or what he thought was her closing eyes, he watched her. He watched her as he crossed the room from the bed into the chair and he watched her as she pretended to sleep. And in a reversal of roles, she was the one afraid. How was he going to last twenty four years on Darillium, full of domestics and normality, two things he hated very much.

"A penny for your thoughts, dear?"His voice broke her from her thoughts. She turned her head to look at him. Of course he knew she wasn't actually asleep, this him didn't seem to be oblivious about her like the last one.

"You hate domestics." She sighed in a gasp.

"I don't hate them, I just find it easier and more fun to happily avoid them." He said, crossing the room to sit down next to her on the large king sized bed.

"How are you going to last twenty four years on Darillium with me?" She asked out loud, and he actually laughed. She furrowed her brows, her thin ones nothing compared to his Scottish ones, but she still managed to give him quite the glare.

"Well if I remember honey, you're not one to sit still either." He said, winking slightly, and she was taken aback by his actual out right flirt with her.

"You're Scottish, why aren't you complaining about you being stuck here with me for twenty four years?" River sighed in exasperation. Don't get her wrong, she loved the idea of all that _time_ with the Doctor, but something about him seemed off.

"Twenty four years with you, River, I could never complain about that." The Doctor said, leaning forward to press his lips gently against hers. She breathed in as he did so, relaxing as he pulled away.

"Sweetie." Her gasp was a shaking whisper. After another round of showing her just how excited he was to spend all this time with her, the two fell asleep in each other's arms.

 _Day 2_

The two woke to the sound of rumbling. The Doctor woke to more of a start than River did, and then he laughed at how nervous he had been. "What was that?"

"I am hungry. We did skip out on desert last night." River complained, sitting herself up onto the headboard. The pillows seemed to have been discarded for a much comfy pillow, meaning her Doctor.

"If I remember correctly, we decided to indulge in a different kind of desert." The Doctor leaned forward to kiss her lightly on the lips but she pulled back slightly. He seemed disappointed as she turned her head, and her whole body, away from him, and faced the door.

"I didn't-" The Doctor's two hearts almost cracked at the sight, he thought, or he assumed, that after all that they said all the things they should of a long time ago.

"While we were running, as we do-"She turned back to face him once more, she took his hand in hers and he didn't flinch surprisingly. "You didn't like the hand holding."

"No I meant, I like to do the hand pulling." He said, amazed and ashamed that he still hadn't yet proved to his River just how much she meant to him.

"So the romantics, because I know not all of your faces have been one for intimacy." She said, her voice almost cracking at the thought of it.

"It's never mattered when it came to you River. It's like you're an echo. Buried deep in the bottom of my two hearts, and the back of my mind. I can't get you out, but then again I don't want to. I've never been good with words or wooing, but with you it just feels-" He turned his head around the room as if to look for the word.

"Normal?" She suggested.

"Natural." He replied.

"Doctor I don't know what to say." River had never heard something so heartfelt, coming from him.

"Then don't." He smiled, something about this grin was much more contagious than any of his others, maybe coming from such a crass exterior it was surprising.

"Okay." She couldn't help but smile back.

 _Day 3_

They had spent all of yesterday just staring at each other, holding the other in their arms, flipping through the channels on the telly arguing over what to watch, simple married life. Today, they woke up in each other's arms, and had spent the whole morning spending time alone together.

The two sat side by side, neither really dressed, on the bed. One of his legs hung over the side of the bed, while her knee was comfortably wrapped around the other. The Doctor was reading the paper, while River wrote in her diary.

"So where should we start? The paper, the internet isn't the most reliable it varies, maybe we could go out into town and just ask around-" She cut him off of his rambling.

"What are you talking about?" She laughed slightly.

"House listings." He said in the most serious tone she'd ever heard. Now it was her turn to laugh at him, he huffed in confusion.

"What's so funny?" He asked, his Scottish eyebrows nearly connecting at the bridge of his nose.

"Sorry dear, but the way you said that. There's no way we're buying a house." River laughed, shaking her head back and forth, her blonde curls bouncy in time with her.

"No?" His tone was concentrated with disappointment.

"You're serious?" She asked, turning her head to look at his eyes now. They seemed to have no doubt in them, no fear, not the slightest hesitation.

"Well we're not going to spend twenty four years in a hotel room." He said nodding his head in the most serious tone.

"So we're doing this." River said, looking into his eyes for confirmation. No more _space_ between them and they had all this _time_ to play with.

"We can make whatever kind of life we want." The Doctor said. This was him, offering all he had to give her, twenty four years of domestics, normality, and whatever else came with a simple life on Darillium.

"I'd like that." River smiled, licking her lips, and he held his hand out for her.

"Well then let's get out of bed and explore our new home." The Doctor said, lifting her from the bed, the sheets dropping at her feet, her just as he'd left her, naked and utterly beautiful. He pulled her closer to him, nearly slamming her against his chest with the force of it.

He kissed her passionately but slowly, letting his hands ghost of the skin he had just delicately burned into his memory forever. He knew that after all this was over, he would look back on these memories, ghost the air, as if she was still really there. But now, he just enjoyed tracing the lines of her beauty, every single dent and protruding bone there was to his River.

"Sh. Let's get dressed." She said, tapping her fingers melodically against his temple as if she could hear his thoughts.

The two eventually got dressed, and as they prepared to walk out the door, the Doctor couldn't help but smile as he watched his wife stick the little blue diary into her purse. She crossed in front of him out the door, but didn't step more than two feet in front of it waiting for him to link arms with her after shutting the door.

"Ready?" She asked, and he nodded. Making their way through the hotel down to the bottom floor, he nodded at the clerk at the desk as they passed through the front doors. They decided to stop for breakfast, well actually lunch since it was more around that time. Or at least that's what it felt like.

It was a sum of a whole ten minutes before the two started fighting. Over the color of the windows of all things. The Doctor would not even consider any houses until he looked at what color the lining of the windows were going to be.

"I absolutely refuse to buy a house and then have to look out a window with a musky green tint in the corner of my eye." The Doctor shook his head.

"We could always paint the windows!" River sighed in exhaustion, placing her head in her hands. It went silent for a moment, and then she heard the Doctor snicker. She lifted her head, and pushed against hiss shoulder.

"You're such an arse." She laughed, shaking her head back and forth. The two finished their lunch and decided to take a walk around the town. Maybe look at the houses, or the people, or each other. Either way they'll probably look at something.


	2. Chapter 2

_Day 4_

The Doctor didn't hear anything when he woke up. That was a problem. He shot up, looking around the room, River was nowhere to be found. Was it all a dream? A sick dream that was meant to taunt him? No, it was too real. And he could smell her, she'd been here.

It was real, so where was she? He followed her scent. Traced it from the faintest to the most apparent parts of the hotel room. It led him to the dresser, where a scribbled note in her handwriting laid.

 _Went out to pick you up a surprise. Be back in a few.-Your wife_

How long was a few? He couldn't tell when she'd wrote it, you'd think an archeologist would like to date things. Either way he still couldn't hear anything. He couldn't even hear the towers that were so close to them, probably the building material. He knocked on a wall, the sound went as fast as it came.

He paced the hotel room, the tapping of his feet provided at least some kind of noise for him to concentrate on. Normally he'd have the Tardis presence in the back of his head, the humming. But now his head was empty, everything but his thoughts. Which wasn't doing the best to calm his racing heartbeat.

Shouldn't he be able to hear his heartbeat, especially with how fast they are beating. He placed his hands over his chest, yes they were still beating, he could feel them. So why couldn't he hear anything? Finally the pacing got too much so he sat down underneath the desk.

He dialed the front desk and then told them to hang up on him. Just so he could hear the static. It wasn't the Tardis, but it was better than complete and utter silence. He pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them, and he rocked back and forth.

The slight sting he got from knocking his head against the wall provided minimal relief. He tried to hum an old Gallifreyan tune, the song of the Towers, even an old pop song he'd heard one of his companions listening to, but it was like his brain couldn't remember sound. He needed sound.

He was too caught up in his maniac rocking back and forth underneath the table, discombobulated humming, and concentration on the static of the phone to hear the actual sound of the hotel room door opening. River came in with a breakfast tray in her hands, she had wanted to surprise the Doctor with breakfast in bed.

The two bedroom suite had probably one of the best walls made for keeping sound in and out. Probably best in their situation, as River was quite expressive during their best times. But as she set the hotel key down in a bowl on the living room table she called out across the suite. "Sweetie, you up yet?"

The Doctor looked up from the floor, even though she couldn't tell. His voice was broken, he managed a strangled gasp from the roof of his mouth. "River!"

River immediately set the tray down and followed the sound of her Doctor's pained voice. A million thoughts ran through her head as she discovered him underneath the bedroom table, rocking back and forth. He looked like he was in tears, and she was instantly at his side.

"Sweetie, what happened?" She asked, running her hands over his face before pulling his head close to her chest.

"I couldn't hear anything. You weren't here, and the Tardis wasn't in my head. And I just- over reacted that's all. I overreacted." He said shaking his head back and forth trying to get himself back to normal. Or whatever he was.

"Doctor, do you need a visit to the Tardis. You haven't seen her for almost three days, I think you need to just check up on her. Or she needs to check up on you for that matter." River said. She lifted him up, onto her shoulder. She carried him through the lobby, as he banged his hands against his head.

When they reached the Tardis, right outside the restaurant-hotel where they'd left it. He pushed his hands up against the door, and as if sensing she had the full intent to follow him he spun around quickly. "I'm good."

"Honey, no, you need this." River said, pushing open the door a little more, but he quickly grabbed her hand stopping her.

She was shocked, taking a step back. Something about this wasn't right. He looked inside, there was just a glimpse at the inside of the Tardis, she still marveled in it's new interior. He looked back at her, shook his head and closed the door once more. "Let's go back to the hotel room."

"Hello, Doctor, Wife speaking. What's going on in that big ole head of yours?" She said, tapping the side of his face, he nearly smiled at it too, if not been for the serious concern he had for the moment he would have.

"I don't want to get separated from you. If you and I go inside the Tardis, I'm afraid-" He began to say something but then she placed her finger over his lips and whispered.

"Spoilers." She smiled in the way that she used to.

"Right." He nodded, pretending to bite at the finger near his lips. Her hand moved to his shoulder, as she leaned on her toes pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"I'll wait in the room for you." She said. Turning around she headed back towards the hotel, and he turned towards his Tardis. Pushing the door open, he stepped inside quickly, closing it before anyone could see.

The familiar hum spread from his head to his feet, and he immediately felt better. He almost had half a mind to just walk back out, only pop in for occasional power ups and then leave. Not have to be reminded that there was something he'd have to do after River. But he knew Old Girl deserved more than that.

He walked around the center of the control room once, his hand ghosting over levers and buttons that he would eventually press again. And then as he reached back where he started the Tardis tried to send something to him, but quickly realizing it was the end of his time of Darillium, he shut his eyes and blocked her out.

Light blue. Whatever that meant. He wasn't sure. It could of just been the color of the Tardis when he reopened his eyes, but he somehow felt it had to do with what she was trying to show him. After a small goodbye and promise to visit, almost like one would give to their mother, he left again.

He looked around almost nervous as if someone was going to take it. That's also why he wanted to find a house so soon, so the Tardis had somewhere to rest while they lived out their little life here. When he got back to the hotel room River sitting on the bed looking through some kind of pamphlet.

"The desk clerk said this is a great neighborhood for houses. The prices don't seem too bad, plus I've managed quite a bit of money while you were off gallivanting the universe." She stopped as she didn't hear him reply. Setting her pamphlet down then looking up she didn't move, and she stayed silent.

She watched as he ghosted over to the bed, before sitting down next to her. He stared off into space for a while, just looking at the wall, and just as she went back to her pamphlet she felt him lean over and rest his head in her lap humming a small tune.


	3. Chapter 3

_Day 12_

After a week or so of badgering the locals, the clerks, everyone that even listen to them rant about house listings they had finally set up to actually look at one. And as soon as they both stepped inside they knew they didn't want to look at a single other.

It was perfect. It was a light blue on the outside, not quite matching the Tardis but granted everything couldn't be that blue. Especially since the inside of the house alternated walls with dark blue and white. The kitchen was small, as neither of them did a lot of cooking. But the bedrooms were large. There were three.

River made a joke about kids, but the Doctor seemed very serious about the subject. River then mumbled about turning one into a library or something. The whole thing went by rather quickly, and by the end of the twentieth day, they had a house.

 _Day 26_

The Doctor didn't enjoy shopping. He liked his choices, don't get him wrong, he loved being able to choose things like what shirt to wear or what breakfast to have, but he didn't necessarily always like making choices. Sometimes he wanted a big green arrow to just point to what he should pick.

So no wonder furniture shopping with River seemed so difficult. The first thing they were searching for was a bed. Not that either of them slept much, but when they did use it for other things, let's just say it wasn't something they would just pick out later. And the next was books.

The house came with an empty room that the last had been using as a storage room, but since both of them hadn't been the kind to keep a lot of useless stuff around, they decided to use it as a library. Shopping for books was fun though. For the both of them.

They both got to reaffirm the information they already knew about each other, but there was that little bit that they didn't know. The fact that the Doctor really wanted to own a copy of Death of a Salesman, and A Streetcar Named Desire, made her turn her head in question. Like why exactly would her husband want their library to look like the bottom of an eleventh grader's locker.

"Don't you just love tragic heroes." He said shaking his head back and forth, admiring the current copy of Catcher in the Rye in his hands. She turned her head slightly to smile at him, of course she did.

"I'm married to one." She leaned over and kissed his cheek, letting her hand sit longer on his face that her lips did, before turning to pick up an unsurprising romance novel from the shelves. He chuckles at the comment, a hollow one though, as he runs his hands over the cover before picking up A Separate Piece.

The woman at the checkout inquires about their large stack of books in the cart, calling it the biggest pile she'd seen since the end of school year burning in town square. The Doctor made a sound of offense at even the thought, but River pushed him further to the end of the line, small talking the woman.

"Oh you know, two travelers finally decided to settle down, so we wanted to keep the adventures going." River said, looking fondly in the Doctor's direction as he seemed to be distracted by a kids toy. The woman followed her eyes and chuckled a bit at the sight. The Doctor turned back, he had found a pair of slinky sunglasses.

"What do you think, love, better than the sonic ones?" The Doctor asked before River burst out laughing. He insisted on carry the most bags possible with the most childish grin on his face as she had paid for the children's toy, full to her hair with amusement at her husband.

They dropped the bags off at their new home, before setting back out to town. The little blue house was only about a five minute walk from the center of town. Cars, nor bicycles seemed necessary, but if they wanted the Doctor still had his old motorcycle.

"So, furniture next?" River asked with a smirk.

"We've just bought a bed and a bed full of books. What else do we need?" He said, raising one of his deadly eyebrows as if a child begging not to go to the dentist.

"Oh please. Picking out a couple of chairs and a table won't kill you." River rolled her eyes fondly, but the Doctor shook his head defiantly.

"You don't know that. What if it tried to, the sonic still doesn't do wood." The Doctor said, knowing very well his wife was going to get him to go into the furniture shop whether he liked it or not, but it would be a fault of his dignity if he didn't at least try to protest.

Sure enough, by the end of the day, they had all the furniture they could ever need. A telly with a stand, a couch, a dinner table with two chairs, various shelves for various little things they both own, and a ton of hangers for the closet inside their bedroom. They dropped them all off at the home, the next week was set aside for assembling it all, while they stayed at the hotel. The Doctor turned to lock their house when the pair heard a voice.

"Are you the new neighbors?" A male's voice caused them to turn around. Facing them was a young man, who has darker blonde hair and a pair of thin plastic glasses, and he had on a thick leather jacket with a black shoulder bag across his body.

"Yes, we are." The Doctor smiled, reaching his hand out to take his wife's hand.

"Rachel, darling the new neighbors are here." He called in towards the house.

"Daddy's home!" A small screechy voice said. The Doctor leaned over the flower bushes that separated the two houses, and a white picket fence. A little boy, no more than two or three, ran out into the yard, in nothing but a pair of trousers, with a young woman following after him.

"Car, your son won't listen to me." The young woman said.

"Daddy!" The boy said, climbing up into the man's outstretched arms. The Doctor tugged on his wife's arm as if to ask to go inside but she shook her head.

"Floyd, are you torching your mother again?" The man asked.

"No." The boy shook his head defiantly but something about the absolutely exhausted look on the boy's mother's face told them otherwise. The woman walked up to the fence, and smiled at the Doctor.

"Hello my name is Rachel, this is my husband Douglas, and our son Floyd." She said, reaching her hand over the fence. The boy seemed shocked at this, and the man whispered something in his ear as if to calm him.

"I'm River and this is my husband Doctor." She said, shaking the woman's hand. Normally upon hearing his name people asked a certain question but neither of the adults seemed too bothered that he technically didn't have a first name.

"Doctor Who?" But apparently Floyd did.

"That's just it, isn't it?" The Doctor said smiling as he did whenever someone asked the very same question. Douglas patted his son's head, and after offering to help them settle in to their new home, the young family went inside.

The Doctor and River went back to their hotel, in silence, and once they got dressed down and into bed, the two finally started to discuss their day. Neither wanted to sleep much, so River laid out against his lap as he read over one of the books they'd purchased that day.

"So, love, what did you think of our new neighbors?" River asked out loud. The Doctor lifted his reading glasses up on top of his head, closing his book because he knew this was his wife's way to start talking about what she really wanted to.

"I think they're very young." The Doctor chose his words carefully, as he was about to say naïve, when in reality he didn't really know them all that well to judge that.

"How old do you think they are?" River asked, lifting her hands to play with her nails.

"In Earth years?" He asked and his wife hummed in response. "20 maybe."

"And they have a child already?" She asked, huffing. The Doctor ran his hand through her curls once, contemplating the idea of children with River. Maybe they'd look like her, maybe they'd look like him. Maybe they'd have a sense of adventure, be a little bit stubborn, oh the possibilities of it.

"Have you ever thought about children?" The Doctor asked, unsure of what he wanted her response to be. Yes I have thought of children, or yes but not with you, or no it's never came to mind.

"Are you asking me whether I've thought about having children or having children with you?" She asked, looking up at him as if the matter they were talking about were as simple as what to have for breakfast this morning. He nodded, not really a response but she took it as both.

"Yes." She replied.


	4. Chapter 4

_Day 28_

You'd think that with all the things River could do, including managing to have an ancient being of time fall in love with her, she's be able to put together a bloody bookshelf. In the time her husband had managed to put together the bed frame and the television stand, she was only half done with one of the bookshelves in the library.

"I give up." She exclaimed for about the fiftieth time that day, throwing the screwdriver on the other side of the room. She could hear her husband chuckling from the bedroom, which only aggravated her more.

"Well if you're so bloody good, why don't you come in here and put this together?" River shouted in no particular direction, but still a moment later her husband sauntered into the room with a smirk on his face as something caught on his shoe. Bending down to pick up the small booklet, he laughed again.

"This might help, love." He said, waving the instruction manual in her face. He sat down next to her, flipping through the booklet before landing on the page he needed. He reached across her body, just close enough for her to see the slight curl to his hair, and lifted the screwdriver off the ground.

She watched as his skillful hand took to screwing in one board to another, admiring the way his fingers looked, slightly dirtier but hard at work. His eyes seemed to be focused on the task at hand, but in reality he himself was nervously watching her from the corner of his eye. She often watched him as he worked on little trinkets, and this should have been no different.

As he finished the bookshelf, he turned to smirk at her, and she huffed in annoyance. Secretly though, she loved watching him tinker, his hands seemed to create masterpieces as they moved freely across any project he could get his hands on. She mumbled something about needing alcohol, as she got up towards the kitchen.

Outside, the Doctor thought he'd caught another glimpse of their neighbors because they always seemed to be outside. Surprisingly, the house lights were completely off, and the doors completely closed. He followed the path of their windows, seeing if maybe they were coming from or going to somewhere, but nowhere to be found.

Just then the doorbell rang. River was still in the kitchen, so he called back something along the lines of I'll get it, before opening the door. He didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't to be on his backside moments later. Looking up the Doctor was greeted with the slobbery tongue of a golden retriever.

"Down, Crash." Floyd said, pulling the dog off the Doctor. From behind his son and dog, Carrick reached out helping the Doctor back on to his feet. The dog patted at his legs excitedly as River came into the foyer.

"Sorry about that, he's still a little excited about meeting new people." Rachel said, helping Floyd keep the dog at his side by pulling on the leash.

"Oh and Crash's a dog." Carrick said, patting his son's head affectionately as his son looked mildly offended for a moment before shrugging. River welcomed them in, and Rachel handed over a plate of lasagna much to the Doctor's enjoyment.

"You guys seemed so hard at work, we thought you deserved a little break." Rachel said.

"Oh trust me we do." The Doctor sent River a knowing smirk, and she had half a mind to smack him upside the head in front of the guests but then decided against it.

The Doctor normally didn't enjoy visitors but something about lunch with his wife and their neighbors seemed to make him content. The dog, Crash, seemed to enjoy his left leg, and Floyd was awful excited to learn about anything the Doctor had to share with him. He was listening to the boy tell the story of picking out Crash when he caught a glimpse of River's current research.

"So where did you two say you met again?" The Doctor asked.

"New York, actually. It's a beautiful city, down on Earth, you really ought to go sometime." Rachel said.

"You're from Earth?" River asked.

"She is. I stole her away long enough for the chemicals here to hypnotize her into marrying me." Carrick said, taking his wife's hand in his own and then bringing it to his lips.

"My space man. What about you two?" Rachel asked, turning to look in between the River and the Doctor.

"Well I did the stealing." The Doctor said with a rather proud smirk on his face.

"And I did the hypnotizing." River finished.

By the end of the day, the Doctor could honestly say he had a wonderful time. Sitting and talking didn't seem like much of an adventure, but to him anything was as long as his wife was beside him. Crash had led up to his name after all, knocking himself right into the back of Floyd's head. The couple decided it was best to leave then, before any more injuries occurred.

"That was pleasant." The Doctor said, as he handed River one of the dishes. It was all very domestic. Building furniture together, having lunch with the neighbors, and now doing dishes together.

"You enjoyed it?" River asked as she dried another dish, and placed it into the dish strainer.

"Surprisingly yes." The Doctor said, drying his hands as he finished. River placed the last dish in the strainer before turning to look at him suspiciously. An eyebrow raise later, she stepped a little closer to him, as if trying to see through something.

"Are you sure you're okay?" River asked.

"I'm utterly in love with my wife. I live in the perfect little blue house. My neighbors aren't intolerable. And I had lasagna today. I'd say I'm completely content." The Doctor said, running his hand along the counter, as he headed for the bedroom.

"And what do you intend to do now, Mr. Content?" River asked.

"I intend-" He said crossing in front of her, wrapping his arms around her. "To show Mrs. Content."

He picked her up sitting her down on the counter, leaning up a little bit to kiss her neck just where she liked it. Listening to her response only thrilled him more. "Just how much I love her."

"Oh I do believe." She said, tilting her head back quite beautifully in the Doctor's opinion. "You showed me that once before."

"Doesn't mean I can't tell you again." The Doctor said, dipping his head a little bit lower practically to where the neck and shoulder joined, grinning viciously at her moan.

"Oh you know how I love to be reminded of things." She said, removing his head from her neck just enough to him laugh. A deep, throaty yet straight from the gut chuckle that brought a shiver to her spine.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, encouraging him. As she worked at behind his ear, something she knew drove him absolutely wild, he swiftly carried her through the house to their newly built bed. He kicked the door closed behind them.


	5. Chapter 5

_Day 31_

To say the Doctor's first attempt at cooking for his wife was a disaster, was an understatement. In fact how he managed not to blow up the entire kitchen during his fiasco, was beyond his own mind. Considering halfway through the monstrosity that was the chicken cooking, the power went out. They were left in complete darkness, with a half done chicken in the oven.

With a combination of his hunger, he really hadn't eaten since this morning, and his quick wit, he had set up a candle lit dinner in the living room with cereal bowls set on either side. He heard the sound of his wife, who had been taking a nap, as she woke up.

"Doctor, why are the lights off?" River's sweet voice guided him to the bedroom while his eyes tried to focus in on the fading daylight that shone her hair through the bedroom window. The Doctor reached the bed, pressing his hands against them, he wondered how ridiculous he looked, but as he felt his wife's hands on his face he was led to meet what he could see of her green eyes.

"It's a blackout. The snow and wind outside are absolutely harrowing." The Doctor whispered. Her hands ghosted downward, one set on his shoulder, while the other intertwined with his own.

"Oh, I hope it didn't ruin what you were working on all day." She said softly, tracing the lines of his skin on his hand with the tip of her finger mindlessly.

"I was cooking. Or at least trying to. But either way, come a feast has been prepared." He said, the low hum of his growling stomach guiding him exactly to where he'd set up the little meal they were going to have. She hummed excitedly, interested in what her husband had prepared.

Upon arriving, she let out a chuckle. He turned to look at her, eyebrows furrowed in confusion when she placed her hand on his shoulder, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "It's wonderful, sweetie."

"Well the blackout ruined our actual meal, granted I'd assume it wouldn't of have been any better." The Doctor shook his head.

"Oh?" She asked, as he held one of the chairs out for her to sit, and then pushed it back against the table.

"I'm no Gordon Ramsey, you know." He said, reaching over to pour the box of cereal into her bowl. Then did the same for his own, and repeated the process with the milk. Before sitting down across his wife, as she smiled, and sipped the water from her glass, winking at him.

"Oh, I know." She looked him up and down, as if to confirm something, and then focused back of her bowl. The two enjoyed their little blackout cereal, and afterwards didn't want to walk blindly back to their room, so they settled up on the couch, wrapped in two or three blankets as it was the near end of January. Then they fell asleep.

 _Day 32_

River had fallen asleep on the couch, and when she woke she didn't open her eyes, at least not at first. Not when she felt the familiar warmth of her husband's arms wrapped around her. She laid there, tracing the lines of his hand for a few minutes when she felt him stir.

She turned around in his arms, her chest pressed up against his stomach. She felt him groan, and it was then that she'd realized he'd been awake before her. He felt her trace a good morning on his chest and then he opened his eyes, staring down at her. He looked absolutely beautiful, although she'd never describe him as such to his face. His eyes just fluttered shut as if slightly embarrassed that she had caught him staring at her again.

"Hello sweetie." She mumbled, smiling up at him.

"Hello beautiful." He sighed, unwrapping his arms from her body for a moment to stretch, and yawn. She yawned as well, but then he heard a little grumble of her stomach, and he started to laugh. She patted his shoulder playfully as he tried to sit up on the couch.

"Why does this morning seem like déjà vu?" He asked, as he prepared more cereal, just the kind they had eaten last night.

"Domesticities can get very repetitive my love." River replied, sitting herself down across the table from him.

"Well then let's be spontaneous." The Doctor said, handing her the blue bowl of cereal. She took a bite, looking up at him with an amused eyebrow raise.

"Spontaneous?" She said, with humor thick through her tone.

"Just because we don't have all of the stars themselves anymore doesn't mean we still can't go on an adventure." The Doctor said, setting his bowl down as if he planned to do exactly that.

"Maybe tomorrow, I'm tired." She yawned, stretching her arms out.

"Then it's not spontaneous if we plan to do it tomorrow. You tend to be tired a lot. " The Doctor sounded like a pouting three year old to be honest.

"Well I'm old. And besides, twenty four years means I deserve a little time off from adventures here and there. You can be spontaneous, just not today." She said, finishing her cereal, and setting it in the sink.

"Oh I'll show you spontaneous." He said, winking, as he took his bowl to sink, turning on the water. After doing a couple of mundane things like the dishes, and cleaning out the fridge, the Doctor was heading for the reading room when River called for him.

He spent the whole day wrapped up in the covers with his wife. Tracing little Gallifreyan phrases on her midsection, mumbling about some of the people he'd met on the Titanic, the spaceship not the ship ship. She'd spent the whole day listening him talk about different places, in and out of sleep, and eventually he'd gotten up to answer the door.

It was Carrick letting them know the power outage was over. The Doctor made a quip that if he hadn't unplugged every cord in the house just incase of a hazard, he would have been able to see that. On his way back to the bedroom, he stopped by the reading room, picking up an old Gallifreyan fairytale.

To be honest, she shouldn't need as much sleep as she was getting, granted he was getting ten times the amount he'd normally had. But then again, he was calmer, probably because of the mass amount of sleep he'd gotten this past month. He'd read the Gallifreyan fairytale to her as she fell asleep that night, the sounds of her breathing calming himself to sleep, with plans on how to get his wife to be the spontaneous River Song he loves.


End file.
